BORDERLINK 2000 FINAL REPORT The Alamar River Corridor: An Urban River Park Oasis in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Edited by Suzanne Michel Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias San Diego State University San Diego, California 92182-4403 2001 BORDERLINK 2000 The Alamar River Corridor: An Urban River Park Oasis in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Edited by Suzanne Michel With the collaboration of Paul Ganster, San Diego State University José Delgadillo, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (Ensenada) José Guillermo Rodríguez, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (Tijuana) Hugo René Aguilar, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (Tijuana) Laura Musacchio, Arizona State University BorderLink 2000 student research team Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias San Diego State University San Diego, California 92182-4403 2001 BorderLink 2000 Student Research Team (see photographs on back cover) Jorge Arámburo, UABC Melissa Barry, ASU Jason Castañeda, SDSU Jennifer Davies, SDSU Heather Davis, SDSU Daniel García de León Munguía, UABC Dillon Gibbons, SDSU Wayne Gomez, SDSU Judith Landau, University of Paris Sonia Martínez Espinoza, UABC Eric Miranda, SDSU/CETYS Adiel Quiñonez García, UABC Alena Rosales Rojas, UABC Rey Soto, SDSU Ralph Stricker, SDSU Susan Tinsky, SDSU Ang élica Villegas Herrera, SDSU Maggie Walker, SDSU Allison Yerger, ASU Copyright 2001 Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias All Rights Reserved ISBN 0-925613-33-9 Table of Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................iv Foreword..............................................................................................................................v Executive Summary.............................................................................................................1 Assumptions...................................................................................................................1 Purpose...........................................................................................................................2 Key Findings and Opportunities for the Alamar River Corridor...................................2 Introduction..........................................................................................................................4 Tijuana from an Urban River Perspective.....................................................................4 The Problem and Approach...........................................................................................6 Water Resources in the Alamar River Ecosystem: Issues and Opportunities.....................7 Introduction....................................................................................................................7 The Water Resources Management Approach: Watershed...........................................7 Alamar River: An Overview..........................................................................................9 Water Resources and Uses in the Alamar River Watershed........................................10 Water Quality in the Alamar River Corridor...............................................................12 Clean Water as Natural Capital....................................................................................14 Recommendations........................................................................................................18 The Alamar River: A River Corridor with Outstanding Natural Resources......................29 Introduction..................................................................................................................29 A Biogeography of Riparian Habitat...........................................................................29 The Cost of River Channelization for the Alamar River Corridor..............................31 Recommendations........................................................................................................34 Land Use Problems and Opportunities..............................................................................35 Field Research Observations of Land Use Problems in the Alamar River Corridor ..35 Opportunities and Recommendations..........................................................................37 Conclusion: Why Plan Now?.............................................................................................41 Appendix............................................................................................................................43 Acknowledgements BorderLink 2000 was made possible by the collaboration of many individuals and institutions and we are indebted to all of them. Suzanne Michel directed the field research and the drafting of the research report. Faculty members José Delgadillo and Hugo René Aguilar from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) and Paul Ganster from San Diego State University (SDSU) also assisted in BorderLink research activities. The Universidad Autónoma de Baja California’s Chemistry Department and its director María Eugenia Pérez Morales facilitated the participation of UABC faculty, staff, and students. UABC Ensenada and Ernesto Campos González, the College of Sciences director, provided the BorderLink team with access to laboratory space and facilities. San Diego State University’s College of Sciences and Andrea Compton, the Academic Programs Coordinator for the SDSU Field Station Programs, made it possible for the research group to spend several days at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve and Field Station. Mark Reynolds, the former director of the Field Stations Program, and Associate Director Sedra Shapiro were extremely helpful in arranging for experts from different fields to make presentations to the BorderLink students. Ed Ervin, Dawn Marsh, Eric Riggs, Leslie Seiger, and Larry Carlson all shared their considerable knowledge and experience with the BorderLink group. BorderLink 2000 student Angélica Villegas contributed research and invaluable editorial comments for this document. In Tijuana, the Chemistry Faculty at UABC provided expertise concerning water quality conditions in the Tijuana River watershed. José Delgadillo, Director of the Herbarium at UABC Ensenada, provided training in riparian vegetation survey techniques and mapping. Tijuana’s Instituto Municipal de Planeación (IMPlan) and its director, Carlos Graizbord, were very generous with staff time and materials to assist the research efforts. IMPlan also organized and made available space to the BorderLink students for presentation of their research findings. In addition, IMPlan provided important suggestions for improving the work. Tessa Roper, from the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, supplied the BorderLink research team with water quality monitoring kits and conducted a tour of the estuary. The Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians, through its Campo Environmental Protection Agency (Campo EPA), demonstrated their river restoration and groundwater recharge techniques and provided a tour of its restored areas. Mission Trails Regional Park, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, and the City of Santee enabled BorderLink 2000 students to tour facilities associated with water quality improvement, river park planning, and river ecosystem education. Recommendations for water quality monitoring would not have been possible without the aquatic toxicity training provided by Revital Katzelson, State of California Water Resources Control Board, and the staff from the Information Center for the Environment, University of California, Davis. Special thanks are extended to Lisa Headington, University of Colorado, Boulder, Department of Geography, for her photographs of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek river parks in Denver, Colorado. The Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy provided partial funding and other assistance. Finally, generous support from the William and Flora Hewlett made the project possible. iv Foreword BorderLink is a cooperative applied summer research program involving advanced students from San Diego State University, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, and other universities. BorderLink 2000 was the fifth in the ongoing program that is coordinated by the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at SDSU. The five BorderLink projects are: • 1993, The Wine and Tourist Industries of Baja California • 1994, Economic Profile of the San Diego-Tijuana Region • 1996, Border Waste Wi$e: Analysis of the Management of Recyclable Solid Waste in the San Diego-Tijuana Region • 1997, The Tijuana River Basin: Basic Environmental and Socioeconomic Data • 2000, The Alamar River Corridor: An Urban River Park Oasis in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico The BorderLink projects are organized every one to three years, depending upon availability of funding, requests from agencies in the region, and availability of faculty leaders. Each of the projects is applied in nature and addresses specific issues or problems identified by organizations in the San Diego-Tijuana region. BorderLink 2000 examined the Alamar River Corridor in urban Tijuana at the request of Carlos Graizbord, Director of the Municipal Planning Institute (IMPlan) of the City of Tijuana. Faced with proposals to channelize the Alamar River to make more land available for urban development, planning authorities in the city wanted to examine the full range of options and asked the BorderLink project to explore alternative